Series capacitor protective system



June 13, 1939. R. E. MARBURY 2,152,488

SERIES CAPACITOR PROTECTIVE SYSTEM Filed March 5, 1938 Fig.1

ITNESSES: INVENTOR I Hal 2:1 E/Varbury.

ATTORNEY Patented June 13,1939 2,162,488

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SERIES CAPACITOR PROTECTIVE SYSTEM Ralph E. Marbury, Wilkinsburg, Pa., asslgnor to Westinghouse Electric 8: Manufacturing Company, East Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application March 5, 1938, Serial No. 194,157

3 Claims. (Cl. 175-294) My invention relates to a simplified protectionstood that the current which initially flows in the means for series capacitors, for protecting the bypassing circuit containing the contactor-consame against over-voltages due to excessive cur-. tacts is made up of the vectorial sum of the liner t current, ;or current in the circuit containing the 5 Series capacitors are utilized, in series with alseries capacitor, and the discharge-current oi the 5 ternating-current circuits, for neutralizing some series capacitor, the latter current being variable or all of the inductance of the circuit, and are over wide limits, depending upon the portion of rated for a certain specified normal" full-load the cycle at which the capacitor is short-circuited current, with the understanding that the capaciby the breakdown of the shunting gap-device,

tor will continue to operate for a brief .overnd depending also upon the time-constant of 10 current of the value of 150% normal, and will the bypassing circuit containing the contactoralso withstand an extremely brief overcurrent of Contacts, all O which mp d t design a a value of 200% normal. Since the capacitorthe application of the current-responsive coil, voltage is proportional directly to the current, it requiring a special coil for almost every installa- 5 is obvious that this voltage must be limited in tion. the same manner as the current. Protective In accordance with my invention, I energize shunting gaps have been devised which will the Operating coil of the co tactor by means of quickly flash over when the 200% voltage-value a current-transformer which is connected in is reached, thereupon establishing a low-voltage series with the circuit containin t e ser es caarc circuit around the capacitor and, in ett'ect, Pa or, as distinguished from being energized short-circuiting the capacitor so that the cafr the byp s n s p-circuit. The currentpacitor is put out of service. It is generally d transformer can be of standard design, which is sirable to subsequently bypass the gap-circuit, in easily desig d to Withstand y -to-turn order to prevent damage to the gap-device, and stresses w ich re se up by reason of any tranto this end a shunting circuit is provided, which ts ppearing on the line, so that the concontains the contacts of an electromagnetic contactor-coil may e of Ordinary da d es tactor, the satisfactory control of which presents and of simple app the y thing resome problerna quired to be known being the line-current at Heretoiore, t contactor-c011 ha b enerwhich it is desired that the contactor shall trip,

gized in response to current flowing in the bythis current being no l y Set for 150% of the 30 pass circuit which contains the contactor-concurrent-r Suitable means are readily tacts. This method of operation has had certain p d fo caus ng he contactor-coil to become more or less serious disadvantages. For one ss eifectively energized by the line-current as thing, there has been an objection b Voltagesoon as the contactor is energized, thereby en- 3; drop in the current-responsive apparatus which abling the c tactor to drop out at the 150% 5 is emmeeted in t bypass it 1 t purvalue of current, or at any other current-value pose of responding to the current therein. It which may e desired; In the application of y was necessary to devise this current-respo i invention, it is not necessary, therefore, to utilize apparatus so that its voltage-drop during the anything but standard equipment, and it is not 0 maximum possible short-circuit current-condinecessary t0 knew the voltage o the size of the 40 tions in the circuit containing the series capaciseries capacitor 01' the time-constant of its distor should not exceed the permissible voltagecharge-circuit, the only q s t in a specidmp t series capacitor and th h fication ofthe line-current at which it is desired dered t operation more or less unreliable when to have the contactor begin to close its contacts.

. the fault-current was only slightly more than with the foregoing and ot er objects in view, 200% normal current, because of lnsufllcient enmy invention consists in the pp atus, combirgy to properly operate the current-responsive nations, circuits and systems hereinafter dedevice under these conditions. The necessity for scribed and a me and illustrated in the acclesigning this current-responsive coil, in the by- Companyihg drawing, in h:

pass circuit containing the contactor-contacts, Figures 1 and 2 are diagrammatic views of cirso as to withstand a certain maximum current, eiiits and pp us i ustrating my invention in and to have a certain maximum voltage-drop wo difle ent forms of embodiment. with this current, has made it necessary to dey invention is utilized for the P ote o o sign a special current-responsive coil for each a series capacitor l which is connected in series 05 series-capacitor installation. It will be underwith an alternating-current line or circuit 2. ll

The first line of protection against rapidly rising over-voltages on the series capacitor I is a main gap-device 3 which is connected in a bypassing circuit around the capacitor I.

As set forth in my copending application Serial No. 67,820, filed March 9, 1936, the main gap-device 3 is preferably made of specially constructed massive carbon electrodes having a large heatstoring capacity and a sensitive breakdown-voltage characteristic which, at least at-times, is higher than the voltage which can be permitted to appear on the series capacitor. Since these electrodes are of carbon, the arcing-voltage of the main gap-device 3 is necessarily low, which is very desirable, because, as soon as the main gapdevice breaks down or arcs over, it becomes ionized and hence,- on each subsequent half-cycle, the gap immediately breaks down again before the impressed voltage has built up to a high value, or, in technical terms, the carbon gapdevice, with its low arcing-voltage, prevents the building up of high recovery-voltages which would have a tendency to produce high oscillating currents in the circuit formed by the series capacitor I and the gap 3.

As described and claimed in my Patent No. 2,072,717, granted March 2, 1937, the main gapdevice 3 is tripped oil by means of an auxiliary gap-device 4 which is made with metal electrodes which, while having a much higher arcing-voltage drop, can nevertheless be made to have a rather sensitive calibration as to breakdown voltage. In order for this breakdown calibration to be sensitive, it is usually desirable to set the auxiliary gap 4 for a. higher voltage than the voltage appearing across the series capacitor I, and hence the voltage of the series capacitor I is usually multiplied by means of a small step-up transformer 5 which energizes the auxiliary gap-device 4 and causes it to break down at the 200% value of the line-current. The auxiliary gapdevice 4 is included in a small oscillatory circuit consisting of a small capacitor 6 and a small inductance I, the latter usuallyconsisting merely of a few turns of wire in air. The air-core inductance I is included in the bypassing circuit containing the main gap-device 3, so that, when oscillatory currents are set up in the auxiliary gap-device 4, the oscillatory voltages are applied to the main gap-device 3, causing the latter to break down and form a low-voltage are around the series capacitor I.

A bypassing contactor 8 is also provided, having an operating coil 9 and contactor-contacts ID, the latter being provided in a bypassing circuit around the series capacitor I and the main gap-device 3. 4

In accordance with the form of embodiment of invention shown in Fig. 1, the contactor-coil 9 is energized from the secondary circuit II of a current-transformer I2 having two primarywinding portions I3 and M. The primary-winding portion I3 is connected in series with the alternating-current line or circuit 2 which contains the series capacitor I, so as to be traversed by the line-current under all conditions. The primary-winding portion I4 is connected in series with the bypassing circuit containing the contactor-contacts I0, and is so arranged that, when the contactor-contacts III are closed, the energiza'tion of the primary winding portion I4 bucks that of the primary-winding portion I3, thereby decreasing the current in the secondary circuit II. By this means, it is possible to cause the dro'p-out'point of the contactor 8 to coincide means with any desired value of the line-current in the line 2. I

In the embodiment of my invention shown in Fig. 2, the current-transformer I2 has only one primary-winding portion, and only one currentratio, and the setting of the drop-out operation of the contactor 8 is controlled by means of an impedance I6 which is shunted around the contactor-coil 8 whenever the contactor is energized, utilizing, for this purpose, either the main contactor-contacts III or, as shown, a set of auxiliary contactor-contacts II. By the means hereinabove described, or by any equivalent means, it is readily possible to adjust the drop-out action of the contactor 8 to occur at any desired value of the current in the line 2.

From the foregoing description, it will be obvious that I have provided a bypassing circuit, containing the main gap-device 3, which is not imperiled by the inclusion of current-responsive contactor-operating devices therein, and that I have provided contactor-control apparatus which is standard in construction and susceptible of successful application withoutattention to anything other than the value of current at which it is desired to have the contactor begin to operate, and the value of the current at which it is desired to have the contactor begin to drop out again. Upon the occurrence of a short-circuit condition on the load-side of the line 2, resulting in heavy fault-currents flowing through the capacitor I, the main gap-device 3 will first flash over, in a small fraction of a cycle of the mainline frequency, thus protecting the series capacitacts I0 close, the main gap-device 3 is short-circuited, causing the arc therein to become extinguished. Thereafter, when the fault is cleared from the line 2, the line-current subsides and the contactor 8 drops out, reopening its contacts III, and restoring the apparatus to its normal operating condition.

While I have described my invention in two different forms of embodiment, it will be obvious that various changes and substitutions may be made without departing from the essential spirit of my invention, at least in its broader aspects, and I desire, therefore, that the appended claims shall be accorded the broadest construction consistent with their language and the prior art.

I claim as my invention:

11A series-capacitor equipment for an alternating-current circuit, comprising the combination, with the series capacitor, of a main ga'pdevice shunting said series capacitor, a bypass contactor having contacts in shunt to said main gap-device, a series transformer having two primary-winding portions and a secondary circuit, a coil for operating said contactor from energy derived from said secondary circuit, and connections whereby one of said primary-winding portions may be energized in series with said alternating-current circuit, and whereby the other of said primary-winding portions may be opposingly energized in series with said contactor-contacts.

2. A series-capacitor equipment for an alternating-current circuit, comprising the combination, with the series capacitor, of a main gapdevice shunting said series capacitor, a bypass contactor having contacts in shunt to said main gap-device, said contactor also having an operating coil, a series transformer in series-circuit relation to said alternating-current circuit, and

means for so energizing said operating coil from said series transformer, independence upon the position of said contactor, that the ratio between the current in said alternating-current circuit and the eflective ampere-turns in said operating coil changes from one approximately definite value to another approximately deiinite value and back again, as said contactor moves from one position to another and back again.

3. A series-capacitor equipment for an alterhating-current circuit, comprising the combination, with the series capacitor, of a series transformer having two primary-winding portions and a secondary circuit, the two primary-winding portions being serially connected between one terminal of the series capacitor and the alternatingcurrent circuit in which the series capacitor is connected, a main gap-device connected so as to shunt said series capacitor but not to shunt either one of said two primary-winding portions, a bypass contactor having contacts connected so as to shunt said series capacitor and one of said two primary-winding portions, and a coil for operating said contactor from energy derived from said secondary circuit.

RALPH E. MARBURY. 

